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Saturday, 2 March 2013

Continuing stinks out of University of Minnesota Psychiatry: If it looks like it, smells like it and sounds like it, at least it deserves an inquiry...

This is just to point interested readers to what looks more and more as a multi-layered bona fide research ethics scandal at the psychaitry department of the University of Minnesota, involving at least one death and possible falsified patient documents in order to fake proof of consent. My US colleague Carl Elliott has been covering this mess for a long time, patiently trying to have the university's own research intergrity administration take hold of the case, and work it as they should. However, instead of doing what a university in this situation is supposed to do – namely acting in a prudent and transparent way to undo any unsubstantiated suspicions – it continuously acts to sweep whatever crap it is they feel they need to hide under a dirty, old mat of hollow and increasingly unsound or even obviously invalid bureaucracy blabber.

Is it as simple and disgraceful as one commentator at Carl's blog suggest, that:

...the University of Minnesota will never look into these issues because
they are scared too death of what they might find, or actually might
have already found. /..../ The University at this point has no option but to stay the course of
denial, for to give in and admit fault would open the flood gates...